Simple but Fancy Potato Salad

My recent blog posts about blue Swedish potatoes are about to get company by one about some rather yellow Danish ones. Today’s main ingredient is Ratte or Asparges potatoes, originating in Denmark according to Wikipedia. They were bought at the same time as the Blue Congo potatoes and at the same shop. Also very cheap for such lovely spuds. The bag claimed they were good for potato salad, so that’s what  I did.

A batch of asparges potatoes, boiled in their skin along with a vegetable stock cube. I usually run all the potatoes through with a long pin or similar before boiling, to allow some salt in. The asparges potato, when boiled, has an almost creamy texture and a flavor with a lot of nutty notes.

The protein for the evening. Cheapest possible. Prefab meatballs and discount sausages in order to make sure there was enough potato salad to make a lunch box.

Salad assembled. Oil, french herbs, powdered garlic, salt, pepper, mayonnaise, potatoes, arugula, diced feta-like cheese and some capers. Heavenly!

Broccoli Soup

Made soup, but forgot to take pictures until it was done and I photographed a showy plating just to have something for the blog. Here’s how it’s done.

 

Sweat onions, garlic, sliced carrot, diced potatoes and cut up broccoli in a suitable pot.

Add water, stock cube, white peppercorns and for example french herbs.

Simmer until everything’s soft.

Mix with the assistance of a handblender.

Add cream and a dash of vinegar. Adjust seasoning.

Toss in some broccoli bits and bring to a boil, then serve with whatever floats your boat.

Served in what looks like a very designed bowl but is actually a soap dish, with a sprinkle of black pepper and some feta-like cheese.

Rounding Up the Leftovers: The Almost Tortilla

Came home late. Needed something to eat. Noted the accumulated leftovers from recent cooking adventures. Sprung into action. A proper spanish tortilla, is, from what I’ve gathered, an omelet with maybe more potato than egg in it. I only had half a potato, which makes it an almost tortilla.

Sautéed some onions and garlic, along with leftover green chili and enoki

Next, adding sliced potatoes – the blue ones from yesterday. Only had half a very large one, but it added some color and carbs. For a proper tortilla one would fry a much larger amount of sliced potatoes for much longer, instead of a bit of old and boiled. Also sprinkled a bit of smoked paprika and French herbs.

Adding lightly beaten eggs. I’ve always been taught that it’s best to use a fork, yet when Gordon Ramsay asks some chef to make an omelet to get an estimate on his skill level, they almost infallibly bring out the whisks – which, according to what I’ve learned, increases the risk of a crumbly texture.

Flipped with the assistance of a pot lid. It’s somewhat amorphous in shape, but that’s something one often has to live with when making an omelet in a pan larger than precisely needed.

A bit of cheese enhances the experience. The most common solution would probably be grating the cheese and mix it in with the eggs, but I decided to add cheese fairly late in the cooking process and went with sliced. Supposedly, the common Scandinavian cheese slicer is viewed with suspicion in many parts of the world. It’s a very handy tool actually – buying sliced cheese is just silly.

Done!